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Tangyu jizhuan 唐餘紀傳

May 17, 2019 © Ulrich Theobald

Tangyu jizhuan 唐餘紀傳 "The last of the Tang" is a book on the Southern Tang dynasty 南唐 (937-975) written by the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Chen Ting 陳霆 (jinshi degree 1502), courtesy name Shengbo 聲伯. He hailed from Deqing 德清, Zhejiang, and was first supervising secretary in the Ministry of Justice (xingke jishizhong 刑科給事中), and then took over eductional positions in several prefectures. He finished his career as *assistant eduction intendant (tiyue jian 提學僉) of the province of Shanxi.

Chen was a famous intellectual and scholar. He also wrote the biji-style books Shantang suoyu 山堂瑣語 and Shuinangao 水南稿, as well as the poetry critique Zhushantang shihua 渚山堂詩話 and Zhushantang cihua 渚山堂詞話.

The 24-juan long Tangyu jizhuan follows the concept that the Southern Tang were the rightful heirs of the great Tang dynasty 唐 (618-907). The arrangement of the book imitates that of the official dynastic history Xin wudashi 新五代史 with imperial annals-biographies, normal biographies, and specialized collective biographies and one single treatise, but has not the same literary and scholarly quality. It is included in the Siku quanshu 四庫全書 corpus.

Table 1. Contents of the Tangyu jizhuan 唐餘紀傳
1-3 圖紀 Imperial biographies-annals
1-15 列傳 Normal biographies
家人傳 Consorts and princes
忠節傳 Persons displaying loyalty and sincerity
義行傳 Persons displaying righteous conduct
隱逸傳 Hidden scholars
藩附傳 Regional governors
16 列女傳 Outstanding females
17 方技傳 Magicians and diviners
18 伶人傳 Masters of music
19 別傳 Alternative biographies
20 志略 Treatise: 疆土 Jiangtu Geography
21 附錄 Appendix: 契丹 The Kitans
Source:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰 (ed. 1996), Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, p. 1047.